Late Friday afternoon, I stepped off a plane and breathed in Arctic air for the first time. I am currently in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, about halfway up the Arctic Circle in a Norwegian archipelago. Associate Sea Rover Faith Ortins runs the company BlueGreen Expeditions, and she has been extraordinarily generous in inviting me to join her and BlueGreen on their two-week Arctic expedition through Svalbard and Greenland. I am only the second BSR Intern to join Faith on one of her expeditions – last year’s intern, Logan, joined last year’s Arctic expedition. I am grateful beyond words that Faith extended the offer again to host the Intern and allowed me to join her here. It’s barely been 48 hours and I already can hardly believe the experiences I’ve had, and can’t wait to see what the next two weeks bring.
This far north, the sun doesn’t set at all. It’s daylight all 24 hours, which made my first night of sleep very confusing for my circadian rhythm.
For my first full day in the Arctic circle (still an insane thing to be able to say!), I spent the morning at Longyearbyen’s husky dog cafe.
In the afternoon, I visited the North Pole Exploration museum with my roommate for the boat, Emily. She and I ran into each other, both on our way to the museum. I didn’t know before, the race to the North Pole was actually via airship (as in a dirigible, not a plane)! What an absolutely wild and whimsical concept, I love it. Unfortunately, it’s a tale full of tragedy as well as daring and whimsical adventure, but a fascinating tale nonetheless. Several different explorers, from many different countries, flipping between working together, racing each other, and (possibly) sabotaging each other in the quest to be the first one to reach the North Pole. The more you know!
That evening, the whole expedition group gathered in the Longyearbyen cultural center for introductions and logistics for the next day. Afterwards, I went for dinner with some of the new friends I met at that orientation.
Today we boarded the ship! This morning, I woke up early to pack up all of my gear before check-out time. I signed up for the dog-sledding experience, so at 9am I was a part of a group that got driven to the dogsledding company’s kennel down the road from Longyearbyen. 
They have 131 dogs there, and they were all super happy to get pets from new people. Once we had greeted and pet the dogs for a bit, we were shown how to put the cross-back harness on them and hook them onto the lead. Each of the dogs we were told to harness were so excited to be getting ready to run, it was really cute! Once all five sleds were set, I released the brakes and the dogs started to pull us along, as I (and each of the other drivers in our groups) followed our guide up and down the dirt roads. We passed one of the old coal mines too, where the soil turned black with all the coal that had been deposited there. The scenery was so picturesque, and it was so much fun to be driving around with these dogs in such a beautiful place!
It was lunchtime by the time we got back, and then we reconvened in the hotel for the buses to the ship. We loaded the bus, and then got our first glimpse of BlueGreen’s ship the Ortelius as we rounded the corner of the bay. Once all the bags were loaded, it was time to board and take off!
I’m not sure exactly what I had been expecting, but the Ortelius is a much bigger and well-outfitted boat than I was expecting. There are six decks, complete with a full dining room and a lounge/bar. We all convened in said lounge/bar once we double-checked that our bags had all been brought to the right rooms.
Our Expedition Leader, Chloe, gave a presentation about safety procedures on the Orelius, and then we all went back to our rooms to grab our lifevests and do a emergency disembarkment drill, where we walked the path we would take in case of an emergency where we’d have to board the lifeboats.
After that, Chloe continued her presentation and told us the plan for the next few days: heading south instead of north (which had been plan A) due to the big storm sweeping northern Svalbard for the next few days. She also introduced the rest of the expedition crew. We’re in great hands, and in for a fantastic two weeks, that much’s for sure!
Dinner time! The crew made a fantastic dinner buffet for our first night, and I sat with and had some lovely conversations with Associate Sea Rovers Greg Skomal and Nick Caloyianis, who are both here to tag and study Greenland sharks! The amount of research and citizen science happening on this expedition is absolutely inspiring and I can’t wait to get involved.
All in all, it’s been a fantastic first two days, and I’m so happy to be on the Ortelius with so many incredible people and divers.
– Sofia